Kristin Smith/The Post-StandardSyracuse MP3 Experiment made a splash last year. A lobster impersonator directed participants in a creative exercise of spontaneous dance and street theater. This year offers more of the same Saturday, starting at Columbus Circle.

Stop. Don’t make another move until 4 p.m. Saturday at Columbus Circle in downtown Syracuse. Get into position near the famous explorer’s statue. Find a spot where you can see Christopher’s face. Now, push play.

“Be ready to stand out in a crowd,” says the organizer who goes by the stage name of Gary Foreign.

You will find yourself amid funsters following Gary’s directions from the MP3 clip. Leaders of MP3 Experiment promise to be real characters. At last year’s inaugural experiment, helpers dressed as a cow and a lobster.

Gary expects at least 100 followers, exceeding the 50 first-timers of July 2009. That group danced in a conga line and participated in slow-motion races and thumb wrestling. Gary will try this year “to be a little more extreme and a little bit more fun” during the 30 to 45 minutes of activity.

Sponsor for the event is 40 Below’s Public Arts Task Force. The experiment’s theme is to connect different areas to downtown Syracuse. To that end, participants will snake their way through city streets, visiting historic monuments along the way.

Naturally, such an outing calls for some wardrobe considerations. Gary suggests comfortable clothing permitting easy movement. Costumes are encouraged. Everybody should bring an umbrella, regardless of the forecast. “I’m definitely not going to say why,” says the organizer.

He also purposely withholds more details on the experiment.

“You don’t want everybody to know what’s going on. You want it to be a little bit of a surprise. Like, ‘Oh, hey, there’s a conga line being led by a cow through downtown Syracuse. I didn’t expect to see that.’”

Gary borrows the concept for the experiment from his friend Charlie Todd, creator of Improv Everywhere, based in New York City. It “causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places,” as described on its website.

“I always think Syracuse needs a little bit of a shot in the arm as far as art goes and having performance art and having public art out there,” Gary says.

Central New Yorkers can prepare to make a scene by downloading the Syracuse MP3 Experiment clip.